Are credit card application conditions becoming more restricted?

latecomer

Just looking for a general consensus on whether credit card applications are becoming more restricted in the current climate. I've not applied for a credit card in about 6 years so have no idea of the likelyhood of getting an online acceptance.

Anyway I applied for an Amex Platinum cashback card this morning and was somewhat disappointed not to get an online acceptance. I've only got one credit card in my name, CL about £7k, although the OH has another couple which are rarely used (all of which are joint). I've got a reasonable salary (above the Uk average) and the OH's is about 2X mine. We had no problem at all getting a 200k mortgage earlier this year and there wasn't anything bad on my credit report last time I checked around the same time as the mortgage). Total debts, excluding mortgage, is very small, credit card balance is cleared each month.
We've not been at our new address that long but were over 5 years at the previous one.

So given all the above I was quite surprised not to get the instant decision. I cant figure out what they might not have liked with regards to the info I provided. One thing I did wonder about is that I had to put my employers business (specialist electronics) under the others category as nothing else really fitted. Could that be a trigger to require further investigation?

Anyways just looking for opinions as I realise the only people who actually know are Amex

YorkshireBoy

Are you on the Electoral Roll at your new address?

Is your current card reported to the CRA's? If not, Amex may have little 'to go on'.

OH has another couple which are rarely used (all of which are joint)

I don't think there's such a thing as a "joint" credit card. The primary cardholder has sole responsibility...the secondary, or additional, cardholder has no responsibility for any debt placed on the card.

Tantalus

Are Credit Card applications becoming more restricted

I think perhaps they might be. Like you I have recently applied for a credit card to make a special purchase and was after the longest 0% offer. This site came up with a Capital One card which offered 0% until October 2009 then a rate of 12.9%

I have had a card with these people before and thought I'd be fine, especially as my previous card had a limit of £17,500.
I duly completed the online application and got a 'we will contact you by post' response.

The letter turned up yesterday, announcing that they could NOT offer me the card I wanted but were prepared to offer me a card at 27.9% !!!!
This type of card tends to be for low-credit scorers so I was mildly upset to say the least.

In fact I ended up paying for an 'Equifax Credit report' and subsequently discovered my "Credit Agreements" rating was showing a yellow warning, as supposed to the other sections which were all green.

An in-depth study found it to be a noted single late payment on an HBOS Credit Card in 2006 - which incidentally was the fault of the Bank as they had not correctly set up the Direct Debit.

So this one tiny mistake resulted in a lower credit score, me not getting the card I wanted and I now have a credit search logged under my name too :mad:

A phone-call to the bank had them accept the mistake and they said they would update my record with Equifax to remove the alert. All a bit too late now though eh! I wonder if I could claim the £14 for the Equifax report back from the bank seeing as it was their mistake? :rolleyes:

Anyway, sorry for going on, but suffice to say, be careful with your applications, it only takes one glitch and they hang you for it (or so it seems)! We are less like customers nowadays and more like cash-cows for the CC companies.

regards,

Tantalus

YorkshireBoy

Tantalus wrote: »

I wonder if I could claim the £14 for the Equifax report

For future reference, it's not necessary to pay £14 for a credit report. All 3 CRA's (well, certainly the main two) offer a free 30-day trial, and if you've used this up then order a paper copy for £2. It contains exactly the same factual information...but without the pretty colours!

BTW, I'd be very surprised if one missed payment on it's own resulted in a 27.9% APR credit-builder card being offered. Capital One's own definition of an 'excellent credit rating' allows for two missed payments, so maybe there's something else on your file (that you've missed) that's the problem?

Tantalus

Could it be because, being a 'tart' I have paid off all of my cards and now just have a single 'life-of-balance' card? I tended not to have any card past the 10/12 months special rate period before I moved it, including it seems, 2 from Capital one: in June 2002 (£10,750 limit), then in Aug 2003 (£17,700 limit). Perhaps they don't like me anymore

You are right, I DID miss something, another single arrears way back in Nov of 2002! Everything else checks out fine. Seems a bit harsh though. Thanks for the advice on getting future reports, I do like the pretty colours, but I can go without for the sake of being 'free'

latecomer

thanks for the replies. We are not yet on the electoral register at the new address as we've only been here a few months but I presume they would check against our previous address which I also supplied.

The credit card is shown on the credit report, as is the loan thats nearing completion. I guess the point about the cards not being joint but having an additional card holder should probably make my application slightly more favourable than if I was partly responsible for these cards.

Tantalus : I had problems years ago with a mistake by the bank and after finding the "missed payments" noted on my credit report I had to ask several times for these instances to be cleared from my credit file. It still took nearly 2 years in the end. HBOS should have given an indication of how long it will take to remove it and then after this get a copy to make sure its been done. I'd also speak to customer services at HBOS and ask for the fees to be credited to your account as the mistake was theirs. Be polite but firm.

YorkshireBoy

latecomer wrote: »

We are not yet on the electoral register at the new address...

There's your answer then as to why you weren't automatically accepted.

...I presume they would check against our previous address which I also supplied.

Yes, but they'll possibly want sight of some further ID in the form of some bills for the new house? Otherwise, there's no 'proof' you live there.

nzseries1

I've always been on the electoral roll, never missed a payment, have a slightly above average income and yet I have never ever received an instant online decision for anything. If I'm accepted it's always a few days later. I wouldn't fret too much!

latecomer

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

There's your answer then as to why you weren't automatically accepted.

You'd have thought that these days when you inform the council of a change of address for council tax they would perhaps have the foresight to send out a new form to amend the electoral register. I'll go have a dig and see what I can find.

Thanks!

King_Weasel

I'd say "yes" to latecomer's query - it's becoming noticeably harder to get accepted and, when you do, limits are lower. I've been rejected several times recently (by Tesco and Sainsbury's). I would presume the only reason is that they consider my credit and/or debt is too high relative to income - the occupational hazard of stoozers.

BenL

I did the Quidco Amex platinum application lastnight and it went through no problems with an instant decision of YES.

They don't advise of the credit limit on the response screen.

I am on voters role etc and haven't done an application for credit for about 6 months since the Quidco Goldfish big cashback.

So, in my experience, not restricted just yet.

We'll see how the it goes in a few months when i go for the HSBC card with £25 Quidco.